


A Midnight Talk

by DragonSaphiraReads



Series: The Selfish Protector [2]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Kinda, Sympathetic Deceit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-03
Updated: 2019-04-03
Packaged: 2020-01-01 09:42:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18333464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DragonSaphiraReads/pseuds/DragonSaphiraReads
Summary: Thomas can't sleep - after Deceit's outburst, too many thoughts are spinning around his head and making him dizzy. He calls Deceit to try and get some answers.Set right after Selfishness vs SelflessnessA/N - You can now listen to this oneshot as an audio recording, read by me! https:  //youtu.be/vDrcad8cFuA





	A Midnight Talk

Thomas couldn’t sleep. He’d been lying in bed for an hour now, running the day over and over in his head. Replaying Deceit’s words like a broken record, watching again and again his face twisted into desperation and anger. 

He didn’t understand Deceit. He’d gotten what he wanted - Thomas had admitted he’d been lying, and the whoop of delight that had come from Deceit told him that was his goal. So why had he been so distraught?

Thomas never would have thought Deceit was even capable to breaking down like that. He was a conniving snake, the tempter sent to make him fall. 

But then... why had he looked so sad?

He threw off the covers and sat up. There was no point in trying anymore - sleep wasn’t going to come for him now. HIs fingers twisted into his bangs, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. Thomas let out an extended breath, frustrated at his inability to let Deceit’s words go. He was a liar, all of the sides distrusted him. 

It was his logo that kept him from completely believing that. A two-headed snake... two faced. He couldn’t believe there wasn’t more to him than just being a liar. 

Perhaps that was why, under the safety net of darkness in his room, he felt it was right to whisper his name, to summon him. 

“Deceit...”

Nothing happened at first. The silence pounded at his ears and he closed his eyes, considering if he should try again. Then a voice spoke out of the darkness and Thomas started, noticing a single golden orb floating in the air.

“You should be asleep.”

Thomas opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Why did he think this was a good idea? He didn’t know what he wanted to say! He should have just gone downstairs and fallen asleep to some mindless TV show, not called the personification of lies into his bedroom!

“Did you need something, darling?” Deceit drawled, still staring directly at Thomas. 

“I... I...”

“Because I thought you’d already come to a decision. So unless you’re going to admit that you were wrong, I’ve got better things to do-”

“You were.”

Deceit stopped, his eyes narrowing as he stared in Thomas’s direction. “Excuse me?”  
“I... You were right about... about me wanting to go to the callback.”

Deceit sighed, a hand pinching the bridge of his nose. “Oh sweetie, of course I was. Why in the world do you think I showed up in the first place?”

Thomas didn’t have an immediate answer to that, but Deceit could guess what was running through his mind. 

“You think I’m the bad guy. The biblical snake come to trick you into getting kicked out of the Garden of Eden. But you forget, I’m just as much a part of you as any of the others. So before you condemn me, maybe think about why I’m here in the first place.” Deceit snarled, his s’s held longer than other syllables. He held his other hand at his side, balled into a tight fist.  
Thomas thought for a moment. 

“Deceit... what is it you’re in charge of?”

The question threw him off guard, and Deceit actually took a step back. Thomas continued. 

“Because, today, you asked everyone else that. What they control. What they’re in charge of. And... I hadn’t realized that they all had so many... responsibilities. But... they never asked you. And I’ve been thinking... they all represent a lot more than what their name tells me. So...” he trailed off, unsure of how to finish. 

Deceit stayed silent, staring. He was trying to determine what had prompted this, whether it was a trap or not. But he caught sight of Thomas’s lost expression, lit by the faint light of the moon through the window, and he resigned himself to this. 

“Move over.” Thomas scrambled to shift further up the bed and give Deceit a place to sit beside him. He also leaned over to his nightstand and switched on the lamp there, lighting the room with a soft warm glow that wasn’t too harsh on their eyes. 

“First, answer me this. Why did I appear in the discussion today?” Deceit quizzed, and Thomas shrugged. 

“Because I wanted to lie to my friends to go to the callback?” He guessed, and Deceit let out an exasperated huff. 

“Is that really what you wanted?”

“Well, no, of course not! I never want to lie to my friends!”

“Then no. Try again.”

Thomas made a noise of protest, and Deceit went to stand up. “No, stop, ok fine I’ll guess again.” Thomas told him, grabbing his arm to keep Deceit from leaving. His skin was warm and soft, which surprised him for some reason. 

“Um, you came today because... I was considering lying to my friends?”

Deceit sighed. This wasn’t going to go anywhere without a hint. “Thomas, I want you to think back to the past times I’ve shown up. Maybe those will tell you something.”

Thomas thought back. It wasn’t hard to remember the nerve wracking fear that routed him to his spot when Patton had stopped acting like himself. His tone dropping, a sneer pulling at the corners of a mouth that was so commonly pulled into a smile. The hand that had been slapped over Logan’s mouth to keep him from spilling Deceit’s secret. 

“You showed up as Patton and forced me to practice lying to Joan so I’d be able to do it in real life.” 

Deceit sighed. “That’s an oversimplification, but yes, you could describe it like that.”

“And then you popped up again when I told Joan I hadn’t been talking to you guys to figure out what to say to them... and you seemed angry when I told them the truth.”

“I’m not sure you quite understand the reason why, but yes. And what about the other time I popped in? What prompted that?”

That one he had to think about a little more. “Are you talking about when Logan and Roman were arguing about why I do what I do?” Deceit raised an eyebrow, encouraging him to continue. 

“You, Patton and Virgil all popped for a second during that video... Didn’t Logan say something about lying?”

“More specifically, you said that that day was a fluke, that tomorrow would be better. And Logan said...?”

“That he... wouldn’t have me lying to myself, right?”

Deceit gestured forward, to take that thought forward.

“And today, you popped up because I wanted to lie to Mary Lee and Lee about going to their wedding--”

“And... I’ve lost you. Thomas, I did not appear because you wanted to lie. I appeared because you already were.”

“Wha... huh?”

Deceit hissed out a frustrated breath through his teeth. “Patton was rambling on about all the reasons you absolutely could not miss the wedding. And he was telling you how you felt.”

“He said that they expected me to be there, and they’d be upset if I cancelled. And how excited I had been... and then, Logan--you, popped up when I agreed with him...”

“And were you telling Patton the truth?” Deceit was smirking now, the scaled side of his mouth curved up. 

Thomas was silent for a moment. “You... you know the answer to that.”

“I do.” Came the slightly smug reply. “But I want you to say it out loud.”

“Again?”

“It didn’t seem to get through your head the first time.”

Thomas groaned. “Yes, I was lying, I wanted to go to the callback.”

Deceit clapped his hands together, grinning that grin that Thomas usually considered conniving. But... was there a hint of pride in his eyes?

“Good job, Thomas! Now, tell me, what common thread do you see in all of these occurrences?” 

This interrogation was starting to remind Thomas of earlier today, with all the questions Deceit asked in the courtroom setting. “Besides the first time... you always pop up whenever I tell a lie... but, you don’t do it every time I lie...?”

“Does Logan pop up every single time you speak a fact? Or Roman every time you tell someone a creative idea you have?”

“Point taken. But even in videos, you don’t--?”

“I pop up when you’re lying to yourself. Whether intentional or not, consciously or not, I arrive to make you realize it.” 

Thomas squinted at Deceit, who was now examining his nails, gloves sitting on his lap. His left hand was covered in small, glittering green yellow scales, while his right looked completely normal. 

“But... you’re Deceit! You want me to lie!”

“Do you recall what Patton said about me after I left the first time you met me?”

“Woah, swerve! Um... something about... an inner coach? I really don’t remember, sorry. And, how do you even know about that anyways?”

“You think I can’t listen into the conversation the same way any of the others can? Anyways, Patton told you that I am an ‘inner coach that acts with the one intention of self-preservation.’ Now, tell me, where in that description, does it say that I encourage you to lie?”

“I... but you wanted me to lie to my friends so I could go to the callback!”

 

“Thomas!” Deceit hissed, standing up and whirling so he was towering over the sitting Thomas, his yellow gloves falling to the floor. His slitted eye was glowing again, brighter than ever. 

“I wanted you to realize what you really wanted. I wanted you to realize what I already knew was true. I know what you want better than you know yourself. And yes, if lying was the only way to get you to that callback, then yes, I wanted you to lie. Because I am in charge of your selfish desires, those you bury deep within yourself, those you push away for the sake of making other people happy.”

Deceit leaned forward, and Thomas instinctively leaned back, away from the intense, serious look in Deceit’s eyes. He moved in even further and slammed his hands down on either side of Thomas’s hips, close enough that Thomas could feel the heat coming from his right arm and the cool air surrounding his left. Thomas shrunk and ducked his head. 

“Look. At. Me.” Deceit spat, pulling Thomas’s attention up to his face. “My job is to make sure you take care of yourself, that you snatch up every opportunity that presents itself to you. Everything that you want. Every selfish desire you have. And if you want to consider me the villain in your story, then that’s fine by me. Because I’m not going to stop. If you’re going to push me to the corner of your mind, convince yourself you’re an honest person who would do anything for his friends, even actively hurt yourself in the process, then I will push back every step of the way. Because I want what’s best for you, whether you want to believe that or not.”

“But I want to be there for my friends!”

“Of course you do.” Deceit smouldered, humoring Thomas’s weak interjection. “And that’s what you’re going to do. But I want you to remember who was fighting for you, for what you wanted.”

He stood up straight and turned away, letting Thomas take a breath. “What I told everyone before, when we were in court... I do have your best interests in mind. I do want to keep you safe and happy in a world that will take and take and take from you and never give anything back.”

Deceit tilted his head back so Thomas could see the scaled side of his face. He was smirking again. “But of course, I am Deceit. You really can’t believe a single word I say, can you?” He snickered, picking up his gloves from the floor. “I’ll be going, Thomas. Right now, you want to sleep more than you want to endure my company.” 

He slipped his gloves back on and stepped away, into an open area of the floor where he could sink out. Thomas reached out and snatched Deceit’s wrist, the scaled one that was cool to the touch.

“Deceit, I... I don’t want the others to know about this. I...”

“Of course you don’t. And they won’t. Because that’s what you want.”

“So... you’ll hide it from them?” 

Deceit turned around, and the corners of his mouth were turned up. 

“I want what you want, Thomas. If you truly don’t want them to know... they won’t.”

Thomas opened his mouth to question him, but he blinked and Deceit was gone. 

“Deceit...” Thomas mumbled, before letting out a huge yawn. Suddenly his eyelids felt heavy and all he wanted to do was crawl into his comfy bed and sleep the night away. And so he did, his thoughts stilling as he allowed Deceit’s words to stew quietly in the back of his mind.  
No longer did he feel discomforted by the snake’s presence. Even if he didn’t agree with Deceit’s methods, he could appreciate, just the smallest bit, that he was fighting for him. It was a side of him he didn’t indulge in very often, and in the sleepy, near unconscious mind, he decided that maybe, just maybe... Deceit wasn’t so bad.

**Author's Note:**

> Comment and subscribe!  
> You can talk to me on tumblr! @dragonsaphirareads


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